Smoke Signals
by fayeNOISE
Summary: The story of two of my Unplugged characters Toriye and Glance. Mostly centered around Toriye's freeing, includes the Hapshetsut and Horus crew.
1. Paradise

The last two sentences of the entry were written in Cherokee. Tori sighed, putting down the journal and turning back to the sink. She washed her heavily ringed hands, the water glittering on the silver bands. Shaking them dry she pushed the book back towards the microwave, hoping the shadows might hide her mother's last thoughts from view.  
  
She slumped away from her kitchen alcove to her two-roomed apartment. The walls were white washed, but she'd tried to take a can of black paint to them without much blessing from the landlord.  
  
Her three computers, two Mac, one PC sat on the desk made up of three faux wood tables pushed together. Her bed was a mess; the blankets lay in a heap at one side, the results of her last nightmare. The computers buzzed, one's screen lapsed into the black screensaver and the other two hummed on, still awake.  
  
Without much thought, Tori saw everything was in order. She walked to the bathroom, her boots' high heels clicking on the dusty wooden floor. She pulled open the mirror cupboard and grabbed a packet of cigarettes from the pill-lined shelf. She slammed the mirror shut and focused on her face in the mirror.  
  
She was fifteen, but all her heavy make-up and the dark circles under her eyes could pass her for twenty and she was used to looking after herself. Her pale skin reacted with the flickering fluorescent light in the ceiling, turning it milky-ly transparent. She was short, but the boots gave her the height and the edge she needed. One could pass her for pretty on first glance, with her long brown hair and darting large green eyes. A double take revealed her true nature, however.  
  
The red and purple streaks in her un-kempt hair were beginning to fade. The bolt through her eyebrow had been done herself with a paperclip, two staples and a ball pin she'd taken her lighter to one night. The numerous ear-piercings and the less than appropriate clothing ushered small children and the elderly away from her on the street.  
  
Tori heard a thud from the floor above and raised her eyebrows in surprise. She'd thought everyone, even Ben and Teri –the arguable twenty- something couple from the room above her- would be at Scream tonight. Tori had been kicked out of Scream. The manager had taken a fervent dislike to her after she burnt some guy's tongue with the end of her cigarette after Bug had got her drunk.  
  
Bug had found her a new club, a better one, or so he said, called Sphere. He was going to be there tonight with a few friends and Tori was going with a sour attitude. She ran a hand through her hair, pulling it up into a ponytail. Dropping her hands to her sides she saw something reflected in the cracked mirror that caught her eye.  
  
The screensaver had switched. A livid green typewriter print had begun to appear across it. Tori narrowed her eyes and whirled out of the bathroom. She sat down, eyes focusing on the words.  
  
Second_Sight: Hello Victoria...  
  
The writing flashed a few moments, and then another stream appeared below it.  
  
Second_Sight: Do you know who this is?  
  
The writing blinked again. Tori reached for the escape key, pressing it hard to no effect. Her other two computers flickered onto the same shot.  
  
Second_Sight: No use trying.  
  
Tori checked the door. The locks didn't work in the building, but she kept her kitchen knives by the doorframe incase of intruders. She looked back at the screen and typed a reply.  
  
Morse: Who is this?  
  
The answer came.  
  
Second_Sight: Does it really matter?  
  
Tori reached for the escape button again.  
  
Second_Sight: Not too bright. I have questions for you and answers to ones you have.  
  
Morse: How do you know my name?  
  
Second_Sight: I know many things about you.  
  
Tori grinned. It all became clear.  
  
Morse: Get out of my computer, Bug.  
  
Second_Sight: This is not whom you suspect. You have a question; I have the answer, but first, answer mine.  
  
Morse: I'm leaving.  
  
Second_Sight: You won't, not till you hear me out. Meet me.  
  
Morse: Who is this?  
  
Second_Sight: Follow the yellow brick road, Victoria. Who knows where it leads?  
  
Suddenly the screen went blank again. Tori pushed back her chair and kicked the trashcan over. An assortment of old cigarette packets and Chinese take out boxes spilled over the floor. She grabbed her fur coat from the bed and stormed out the door. She slammed it behind her, sending a few flakes of dust out of the rafters. 


	2. The Man in Black

She walked quickly down the stairs and out into the street. The slushy snow clogged the gutters and the sky was too cloudy to see the stars.  
  
Tori pulled out a cigarette and her lighter. She lit it and took a long draw. She hadn't chosen to smoke because of it's popularity, it just gave her something to while away the long lonely hours and to occupy her hands from hacking into more bank accounts. She was trying to forget.  
  
Her coat had been stolen from some posh store along main street, of course, among many other items living in her apartment: the three computers, the money to keep the rent. She threw the cigarette into the snow and heard it hiss.  
  
What had Second_Sight wanted? Was it just some other hacker trying to get in touch with the infamous Morse, her online alias? Tori wanted to give up that persona. Her recent popularity online had unnerved her. She walked the wet streets of Albany, heading for the goal of Bug's directions.  
  
At an alleyway she stopped, seeing two thugs swapping dirty money in the shadows. She ignored their jeers, her attention distracted. For no apparent reason, a weak brush of yellow was painted along the inside of the alley, heading out to the other side of the street. Tori paused a moment, the continued walking down the main street. Follow the yellow brick road. Who knows where it might lead?  
  
Her fingers reached for the plain silver crucifix around her neck, hanging low in contrast to her black halter-top. She was a strong atheist, but the cross was an heirloom from her father's side, the polluting side.  
  
Without thinking she found herself on the other side of the street next to another alley, this time empty. Another yellow stripe lured her into the shadows.  
  
"Screw it." She mumbled, and turning into the alley, following the line to its destination.  
  
She came out the other side finding a road packed with cars and two police vans. A yellow line crossed the road, barely visible in the moonlight. A club thumped opposite the road from her. The words SPHERE pulsed in bright pink light above the windows. It made her eyes hurt.  
  
Ignoring the signs about under age drinking and DUIs, Tori walked in, dodging the security guards and knowing she could blame Bug for any fee she had to pay.  
  
The bar was at the back. She'd have to find her way through the crowd of turned on people in order to get there. She pulled off her coat and tossed it into the crowd, not truly fond of it. It revealed her in the black halter neck stopping at the bottom of her rib cage and a short black mini- skirt sitting on her hips. Fishnets snaked up what leg was visible from her tall boots.  
  
Tori stretched and clicked her shoulder into place and began her way through the crowd. She saw no one she knew, and parts of people she had hoped to never see but eventually she found a seat at the fluorescently lit bar and took a seat on one of the black leather seats.  
  
She twisted her homemade eyebrow bolt and waited for service, trying to ignore the strange glances from the others at the bar.  
  
"What will you have?" the bartender asked. He had a ring through his nose and weird contacts in.  
  
"Beer." Tori grunted.  
  
"I.D?" he asked.  
  
"You think I'd come in this sick place if I wasn't over twenty one?" she growled. He narrowed his eyes and furrowed his brow at her, then handed her a random bottle of amber liquid and moved to the next person. Tori gave an inward smile; she was making friends fast.  
  
She looked around for Bug, knowing he was probably already off trying to get laid. She sighed and looked back at her frosted beer bottle.  
  
"There's my girl." A voice said behind Tori. She turned around in the chair and saw Bug leaning against a wooden pillar. A girl dressed scantily with a pink feather boa was standing behind him.  
  
"Bug." Tori greeted stoically. He stepped forward, taking the seat next to he. The girl in the boa followed, stroking his shoulder. "And you must be the Rose I've heard so much about." Tori addressed her. Bug hadn't stopped going on about his new girlfriend. Tori couldn't see why anyone would fancy Bug, he fitted his name perfectly. His large blue eyes were very pale giving him an almost blind look. His thin nose seemed to sink into his face like a triangle between his eyes. His lanky limbs made him look even more like a preying mantis, the fact that he'd recently dyed his hair green made it worse.  
  
"A pleasure, I'm sure." Rose said, placing a fake-nailed hand on Bug's low shoulder.  
  
"Told you this place was better." Bug sneered at Tori.  
  
"This place is a dump. I'd rather go party in the sewers than here." Tori snarled back.  
  
"Hey, hey, you're supposed to be gracious." Bug winked.  
  
"After what you did to that guy in Scream..." Rose added without much of a point. Tori shook off her comment and turned to the bar, taking a long sip from her beer bottle.  
  
"Why don't you two just go shag in the background. I'm fine with whatever hell you throw at me." She said, putting the bottle down. Bug smiled thinly.  
  
"Gladly." He said, throwing a arm around Rose's bare shoulders and starting away.  
  
"Scream was my domain, Bug!" Tori shouted after him. "You just fucked that up when you spiked my drink with a little too much MJ!" She shook her head and looked back at her drink.  
  
The music thumped at her back, but she knew she wouldn't dance. No here. Not where she could easily get carted off and raped at a moments notice. A few more people less scantily clad hooked onto the bar, ordering swiftly from the tender.  
  
"Fucks." Tori sighed and cracked her neck stiffly. The tender came over and placed a large dark drink in front of her. She cast him a cynical look.  
  
"From the gentleman in the long coat." The tender grinned stupidly, pulling off his Lincoln top hat and bowing, revealing a slightly out of shape mohawk.  
  
"Tell him I don't want any shitty beer." Tori breathed dangerously, but the barman had already swept away to another customer.  
  
Tori sighed and pushed the beer to one side putting her elbows on the counter and cradling her neck. Black sleeved arms closed around her, locking her in a leathery fence and a voice whispered in her ear.  
  
"I suppose you're not one for European beers then." A male voice said softly and Tori whirled around. A handsome young man, a few years older than her fake age stood there. His pale blonde hair was spiked like a few others in the club but his eyes... They were the rough color of an alpine lake, unless it was some trick of the light played on by the buzzing blue lasers in the club. His dress wear was hardly suiting: all black leather and high buckled boots.  
  
"I stick with the crap we have here." She smiled sarcastically.  
  
"Care to dance?" the man asked, extending a hand.  
  
"I'm not a dancer." She shot back but the man pulled her up anyway, close to him, eyes meeting hers.  
  
"Fine then." Tori remarked, smoothing herself along his body. She turned around, back to his chest. He curled an arm around her waist and ran a finger over her exposed right shoulder.  
  
"What's this?" he asked, flattening his hand over her tattoo on her shoulder as she turn back towards him.  
  
"Morse code." She smiled coyly.  
  
"And..." he inquired, leaning close to her.  
  
"If I told you what it said... I'd have to kill you." She said, satisfied. He leaned down close to her ear.  
  
"Keep your friends close, but keep your enemies closer." He smiled, sending shivers down her spine. He pulled her close to him in a strong grip. "This close enough?" he added, a grim smile tracing his lips.  
  
"You..." Tori breathed, frightened for a moment. "How..." A hint of understanding warmed her cold green eyes and she pulled away from him, heading for the exit. She only gone ten feet when his strong hands caught her arm and whirled her back into his grip, back to his chest again.  
  
"Believe me, Victoria. I have a five barrel gun in my pocket and I'm not afraid to use it to kill as many people in this club." He said sternly.  
  
For a moment Tori wanted to throw him a provocative joke, but she didn't.  
  
"What do you want with me?"  
  
"The question is: what is it you want?" he asked. Tori was still for a moment, but she knew she'd tell him the answer in the end.  
  
"What is the Matrix?" she whispered, barely making a sound. He read her lips over her shoulder and smiled briefly.  
  
"Do you want to know?"  
  
"Why? Are you going to shoot me if I say no?"  
  
"It wouldn't be a waste." The man said. "If you want to know, come to the West Bridge at eight o'clock tomorrow evening. Make sure they don't follow." He finished and pushed her back into the crowd. By the time she turned around, he'd disappeared. 


	3. Mixed Messages

Bug knocked at her door and opened it, knowing her apartment building was too crappy to be secure.  
  
"Hey pretty lady!" he said, seeing her bent over a computer.  
  
"You're here early." Tori said, not looking at him. "I thought you and Rose would have another tumble before you came over." She said, straightening up and looking at him.  
  
"Shut up." Bug sneered, throwing the pizza box he'd brought with him onto her bed and leaning against the wall. "It's not my fault you were being so bitchy last night."  
  
"I know." Tori said. She bent over to reach from something in her backpack on the computer chair.  
  
"You seem awfully good natured todaaaaaaa-"Bug started, finishing in a wail. Tori had reached for a knife in her bag and knocked him to the wall and held the blade to his throat before he could answer.  
  
"What the fuck did you tell them!? WHO ARE THEY!?" Tori screamed at him, pinning him up to the wall by his neck with her arm.  
  
"Geez Tor... if you wanted to... you know... 'do it' all you had to do was ask, you know I don't go for the dominatrix ty-"Bug started, but Tori shoved him harder into the wall.  
  
"Oh keep dreaming you lousy shit-head!" she shouted at him, tossing him to the ground. He obviously knew nothing. "Piss off!" she bellowed at Bug scrambled to his feet and stumbled hurriedly out the door.  
  
Tori slammed it after him, knocking more dust from the ceiling. She dropped the knife on the ground and pulled another packet of cigarettes towards her. At the rate she was going through them she'd be dead by the end of the week.  
  
She knew she was going to have to blow off her job today, but frankly she didn't care that she didn't show up at the Pizza Parade for the night delivery shift. She lit up a cigarette and breathed in the smoke quietly for a while. Then she snapped one of her computers out of it's sleep and logged on, checking her email. Nothing. And then... something lit up in her inbox. Second_Sight.  
She clicked the mail open and read the message in a moment.  
  
Don't go to the bridge. Head for St. Michaels and 5th.  
  
It was short. Suspicious. But then again, what about the man in the club? Hadn't he been nothing if not suspicious? That was indeed if they were the same person. Tori closed the letter and shut her eyes against the florescent light in the ceiling. She hadn't known his name, yet she felt more excited by his presence that she'd ever felt.  
  
She opened her eyes and looked out the window. It was only ten in the morning but it was already dark and snowy enough to be evening. Snow fell silently. The only sound came from upstairs: Teri and Ben shouting again.  
  
Tori's eye fell on her mother's journal in the kitchen again. She pushed her chair from behind her and went into the kitchen. She picked up the old withered book and turned to the pages she'd left off at.  
  
She immersed herself if a few more entries of her mother's intriguing, and yet slightly boring Cherokee reservation life to see if there was any mention of her child, Victoria Everest, anywhere. But there was nothing.  
  
When she looked out the window it was way past noon, five o'clock at the earliest. She checked the off-beat clock on the wall: 4:57pm. Outside it was dark... Damn winter, she thought.  
  
Tori put down the journal with a dissatisfactory sigh. It didn't help that her mother had this rich Native American past that she felt she needed to uphold. She could always forget that part of her heritage. Tori didn't remember her mother. She remembered photographs and postcards pressed between blotting paper in the attic of their Oxford home. She remembered Shira, her father's secretary, who bought her the plane tickets to New York and the money to...  
  
The phone was ringing. Each dial echoed in her ears until she finally snapped, lunging out and picking it up. The voice on the other line spoke before she could even give her signature, 'What?'.  
  
"This line is tapped. Someone is following you. Go to the bridge /I" the voice said, and then the phone went dead. Tori put it back on the receiver, fingers trembling slightly. Which advice could she trust? The phone call's or the e-mail's.  
  
She stepped out of the kitchen, hands reaching for her corduroy coat. She pulled it off with sudden confidence and buttoned the grey- feathered collar around her neck to keep out the cold. She grabbed a free post-it and a pencil and stuck a note onto the door. I Don't expect me back. Stuff is up for grabs. /I  
  
She was suddenly sure of where this was heading. And if she was wrong... she needed a new place anyway. As soon as she was about to the door she remembered her mother's journal and slipped back inside. She grabbed it and rushed out the door. One look back was all she needed to say goodbye. 


	4. Glance

Tori's eyes didn't linger for long on her mother's diary as it clung, smoldering, to the sides of the hobo's lit trash can. She nodded her thanks to the homeless man and continued down the road she'd walked these past year.  
  
She followed the signs for West Bridge. She'd never walked there before, only gotten a ride when she, Bug and a few friends went to go watch the ships come in and get high. Finally the street lamps glittered off the bridge shape and the rain streaked road. Tori breathed out a puff of white breath, needing a cigarette.  
  
There was barely anyone in sight, just a few cars passing here and there, their head lights like beacons. Tori walked to the bridges slop, looking around for any sign of Second_Sight. She twisted an earring and waited.  
  
She heard a noise behind her and whirled around quickly. The man from Sphere had appeared as if by magic. His spiked blonde hair shone orangey in the lamplight. His black leather trench coat and dark sunglasses in the dark gave him an eerie look.  
Tori took a nervous step towards him, then remembered herself and strode up more confidently. "What's with all the rain checks? To nervous to meet me face to face?" she teased. The man looked down at her. She couldn't see his eyes through the black shades.  
  
"You were being tracked." He said. "Let's get moving." He stepped back, out of the light so that it shone on another black form beside him. A limousine with tinted windows that looked brand new. He reached for the handle of the back door and pulled it open. "Get in."  
  
Tori slid into the back seat. Everything was black and leather. With the car lights turned on she could see other figures in the car, others in black and sunglasses. Before she could turn and get out of the car the man had slid in next to her and the doors had locked with a satisfactory click.  
  
The car began to move. Tori didn't say anything as the lights dimmed. The man turned them back on, illuminating the faces of the other people in the car. There was a young woman sitting across from Tori. Her hair was a dark, shiny auburn and fell in ringlets about her oval face. Then there was another girl. She looked a few years older that Tori's fake age. Her long pale blonde hair was the same as the man from Sphere's. She had it twined in a long, stylishly messy braid over one shoulder and was cracking her knuckles in front of her black leather corset.  
  
"You a pimp or something?" she asked the man, who cracked a smile for once.  
  
"No." he said. "You're searching for something, of course? What we discussed?" Toriye nodded solemnly.  
  
"The Matrix." She whispered hoarsely.  
  
"Do you still want to know what it is?" the man asked her. Tori nodded again. "Are you sure?"  
  
Tori tried to distract herself from his question. She nodded towards the blonde woman in the corner.  
  
"This someone you want to tell me about?" she asked with a flirtatious smile. The man looked undeterred.  
  
"Do you still want to know?" he repeated. Tori looked at him, trying to see his eyes through the specs, but it was near impossible.  
  
"Yes." She hissed. The girl in front of her with the ringlets opened up a clipboard she'd had on her lap.  
"These are people you need to know, Victoria." The man said. "This is Abry." He nodded to the girl with the clipboard. "And this is Lara." He said with a rare smile at the women with the braid.  
  
"Who are you?" Tori asked after a pause.  
  
"Glance." He said. "Second_Sight." He was quiet after that and Abry addressed her.  
  
"Name, Age, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Mother, Father and Known Siblings?" she asked. Her voice was pretty, but husky. It took Tori a moment to realize what she wanted.  
  
"Tori Evermorse." She started.  
  
"No." Abry said sternly. "Your /I name." Tori sighed.  
  
"Victoria Everest. Twenty-one,"  
  
"Your /I age." Glance corrected.  
  
"Fifteen." Tori said annoyed. "The twenty-third of October, 1988. Born in Oxford, United Kingdom. Mother was Awiya Haliman of the St. Louis Cherokee Reservation. Father was Richard Ian Everest." She listed. "No known siblings." She added with a heavy sigh. Abry wrote it all down on the clipboard and then put it on her lap again.  
  
Tori looked out the window, as the snow beginning to fall.  
  
"I know what your thinking." Glance said. "Will you ever see it again?" Tori looked over her shoulder at him.  
  
"Will I? I hate it so much... but it's the only home I know." She said.  
  
"You will see Albany again. But not in the same light." Glance said, turning to look out his window. The car drew to a stop. Glance, Lara and Abry got out quickly. Tori followed their example. A taller man appeared. He was bigger and darker than Glance. Tori realized he'd been driving. The group didn't seem to speak. They all went into a building in military like lines, Tori tagging along behind.  
  
They went into an elevator. Lara pressed a button for the top floor. As soon as it began to move she pulled on the emergency stop and the doors opened again. They filed out, Tori still unsure what was happening. Since they were wall silent she decided to follow suit.  
  
They went to a room. It was dirty and wooden. Only two red leather armchairs and a table with a box on it stood in the very center. The tall man who had been driving sat down in one of the chairs, Glance stood nearby. Lara and Abry exited through a door Tori did not even notice.  
  
"Sit down, Victoria." The tall man said, signaling for her to sit in the opposite chair. Tori did so, nervously.  
  
The man reached for the box on the table and opened it. He turned it to face her so she could see the contents. A red and blue pill, lying side by side. 


	5. It Was All A Dream

Since my brain wasn't working much as I wrote this, Tor is basically getting freed the same way as Neo. ( This is probably the last chapter for a few sections that will be in Toriye's POV. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------  
  
Tori felt the air go out of her lungs. Two ideas levitated in her suspicious in mind. Either... these people were telling the truth and the pills were symbols of some kind or, they were drug-lords.  
  
"What are they?" she asked. The man looked at the back of the box then turned it so it faced him again.  
  
"Do you have any idea what the Matrix is?" he asked. His eyes raised to her. Tori had half known he wouldn't answer.  
  
"It's a computer program." She said. "I don't know what for though... government use?" The words came out before she knew what a stupid suggestion that was. Glance gave an amused smile that didn't fit his stony features.  
  
"Half wrong." The man in the chair said. He looked at Glance. "Go. Get us online." He said. Glance nodded. He looked at Tori momentarily and then left through the doors. Tori looked at the man.  
  
"What do they call you?" she asked,  
  
"Snake." He said, looking directly at her.  
  
"You got a forked tongue?" Tori asked sarcastically. Snake's unemotional face bore no sign of annoyance.  
  
"You want to know?" he asked. She glared at him for a moment and then nodded. "The Matrix is a computer program. No one can be directly told what it is." Tori ran her tongue along her teeth. That wasn't what she'd expected to hear. "Victoria..." he began.  
  
"They call me Tori." Tori said. "I'm not Victoria any more." She corrected. Snake nodded once and leaned back in the chair.  
  
"Tori then... I want you to think. What if someone told you one day the shoes you are wearing aren't really shoes. They're a carefully written computer program designed to be worn on your feet."  
  
Tori stifled a snort. This was ridiculous.  
"I say fuck that..." she replied. Snake seemed to smile without moving a muscle. Tori needed a cigarette.  
  
"Now... imagine. What if they said that about all your clothes? What if they said that about the air you breathe? What about if they said the very life you were living was written for the sole purpose of playing your mind about like a hungry animal?" he said, teeth gritted. Tori's eyes narrowed... he wasn't kidding.  
  
"Is that the Matrix?" she asked. "Life is a computer program?" Snake picked the small box up again.  
  
"Almost." He said.  
  
"Then what are you?" she asked. Snake looked up from the box.  
  
"Hackers..." He opened the box and took something out. "If you want to join us... I can show you the lie you've been living in a new light. I can restart your life as it was meant to be." He said. He put out his hands, showing her the blue pill again. "If you take the blue, you can wake up from this dream. You can go back to your pizza-toting job and your 'regular' life. But..." he showed her the red pill. "You take the red one, you can come with us and we can show you, not just notify you of, the Matrix."  
  
Tori stared at the two pills in his hands. Did she want to go back to her regular life? She hadn't been planning to. Her stuff was probably gone already, her mother's journal was burnt and Bug was probably spreading even more rumors about her. She felt a tear leak down her cheek. She didn't want this life... she hated running from her original life, drinking until she couldn't feel the pain of existence, getting high until she couldn't remember anything. She reached for the red pill, not having to think twice.  
  
"Welcome." Snake said. He handed her a glass of water from the table. Tori swallowed the pill dryly and nodded, wiping the tear away. "Follow me." He got up and she did the same. They went through the doors where the others had exited.  
  
The room was filled with computers, all flashing diagrams of strange buildings and schematics.  
  
"Sit down." Snake said, gesturing to a chair. Tori did so. Abry began to place readers on her skin. "Are we online?" Snake asked Glance. He picked up a phone and placed it on a current. The receiver hummed quietly. Glance nodded, and typed something up on a screen.  
  
"What's happening?" Tori asked, but Abry did not reply.  
  
"Coordinates?" Snake asked.  
  
"Got them..." Lara said quietly. Tori was surprised to hear her speak.  
  
"Would someone please tell me-" Tori said, but as she twisted her head something caught her eye. There was a mirror that she hadn't noticed before. Despite the fact that it was just a dusty, cracked old mirror it was by far the strangest thing she'd seen since the messages from SecondSight on her screen.  
  
Tori glanced back at the group, but they seemed to be busy at their monitors. She looked back at the mirror as it began to mend itself. The broken glass became liquid-like and melted into the cracks until the sheet of glass had been fixed. Tori reached out of finger and touched the pane. The metallic substance stuck to her fingers as she pulled it away.  
  
"What is-" she started, looking at the others. They looked back, not speaking. She felt the melted glass begin to course down her arm, goose bumps pricking on her arm. She tried to look at their faces, but they seemed to be blurring. The cold was so intense that she couldn't keep her thoughts straight anymore.  
  
It trickled up her neck, encircling her gave until it spilled onto her cheeks and forehead. It moved closer and closer until she felt it cover her nose, her lips and move into mouth. She let out a scream but all that came out was a high, bubbling cry like a malfunctioning machine. 


End file.
